The invention relates to turkey calls and, more particularly, to box-type turkey calls and a variety of inventive enhancements for what to date have been conventional models.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the problem of a box-type turkey call packed for a jostling hike through the woods or fields squawking on its own at a really inopportune time, and hence scaring turkeys rather than interesting them, by locking down the call actuator (eg., the lid and not the box) for transport.
It is another object of the invention to provide the foregoing locking feature by a locking fastener.
It is an alternate object of the invention to provide the call base (eg., the box and not the lid) with a reserve threaded socket on the bottom wall as a place to store the locking fastener when not in use.
By way of background, there is a compression spring that has the pivot pin inserted through it and disposed between the call base (eg., the box and not the lid) and call actuator (eg., the lid and not the box) in order to keep a moderate upward pressure on the call actuator and hence keep the call actuator it from flopping.
Also, one way to check the upward spacing of the call actuator away from the call base is by providing a pivot pin with an enlarged head, which stops the upward travel of the call actuator.
Thus, given the preceding, it is still another object of the invention to provide adjustability over the spacing between the call base and actuator by making the pivot pin a threaded fastener such that twisting or untwisting the fastener dials in a given spacing.
Also, it is a further object of the invention to tether the compression spring with a short lanyard so that it is not lost during times when the spring is taken off the pivot pin, as for example when a use wants the highest possible key or frequencies for the call, which is obtained by tightening the call actuator down very close to the call base (ie., if left in place, the spring would occupy some room on the pivot pin and thus prevent the call actuator from being tightened down a last little bit).
It is still yet another object of the invention to fasten the call actuator to the call base in ways which allow the call actuator to be rolled over a half of a roll along its long axis so that either broad face of the call actuator can be used for sound production by an improved mechanism.
It is still an additional object of the invention to fasten the call actuator to the call base in ways which allow the call actuator to be switched from being pivoted from one end of the call base to the other end for more comfortable use by either right-handed users or left-handed users.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide the outboard sound panels of the call base with purfling (eg., edgewise grooves) inside the sound chamber(s), instead of (if any) on the outside like conventional box calls, because it has been inventively discovered that this interior purfling makes the tones deeper and richer.
A number of additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following discussion of preferred embodiments and examples.